Hi AB. Yep. I'll show you mine, if you like.
Actually ... a thought. I had problems with my USB devices doing odd things (IYSWIM). Killed the joystick between sessions with X-Plane.
It turned out that XP turns off the USB ports if they don't do anything for some number of minutes. When it turns the power back on, it expects all the devices to stand to attention and announce their number. Some are a bit slow getting in their bid, and they get frozen out.
Might be the cause of your problem. Might be a useful fix elsewhere, anyway.
Tp turn OFF the "power saving" feature:.
Start - Settings - Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device Manager.
Scroll down to "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" and click on the + to open that section.
Right-click on USB Root Hub.
Slect Properties - Power Management and UNTICK the bit about allowing the machine to turn off this device to save power.